KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the Kansas City metro sees its first presumptive-positive case of COVID-19, area schools continue to issue statements about how they plan to keep school safe.
Hickman Mills School District is following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in light of the novel coronavirus outbreak, including having district nurses “monitor student illnesses and review CDC and state health department guidelines.”
The district, according to a statement provided to 41 Action News, will clean facilities with “routine cleaning methods and specialized decontamination equipment.”
In addition to evaluating its “crisis and emergency procedures,” Hickman Mills health services employees will attend training sessions, and the district said in the statement it will “reinforce best practices” to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses. It also “will explore” virtual school in the event that the health department calls for canceling classes.
Hickman Mills also will ask students who have traveled to any country that is under a Level 3 Travel Health Notice to stay home for two weeks and not participate in any school activities. The absences will not count against students, and they will receive “make-up schoolwork.”
The same 14-day restriction applies to staff members, according to the Hickman Mills statement.
Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools announced that they are working with the Wyandotte County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment due to concerns about COVID-19. KCKPS said in a letter to families and parental guardians that it has a strategy to prepare for, respond to and recover from the “highly infectious disease outbreak.”
The district has purchased “additional sanitizing products” and is providing “supplement training for operational staff,” which includes custodians, bus drivers and health services employees.
Other area schools issued statements in late February about how they plan to handle potential cases of coronavirus.
